Sunday, November 20, 2011

Venting

My caramels sugared and sucked, so Black Friday will be cake day instead of candy. I was very annoyed at the end of the entire process.

Anyone want a slightly used, tween, cheap?? Little Miss Attitude informed me that she won't be able to clean her room today because she has to write an ENTIRE story (I swear, you could hear the capital letters in her tone of voice!) today. Because yesterday her Word program was acting up and she couldn't do it.

Well, then I guess I don't have time to go to the library and get the book you've got on hold that you have been waiting for, since I had to work yesterday and this is the only day I have to run errands, since my next day off is Thanksgiving when nothing is open.

In a household with 5 computers and only 3 people, she couldn't find one that was working?? Dad slept most of the day, and I was at work, so why didn't she use the newer computer? Oh that's right, she was too busy playing games on it to do her homework.

So since I don't have to go to the library, I shall just do my errands without a sulky preteen along and she will have time to write AND clean her room!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Baking day!

Tomorrow (after I hit the yarn store and the grocery store) I am going to attempt to make these:

Sea Salt Caramels with Vanilla Bean
Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped
1 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Lyle's golden syrup (or light corn syrup)
1/4 cup water
Instructions

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly butter parchment.
Bring cream, butter, vanilla, vanilla beans, pods, and sea salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.
Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.
Remove pods and carefully stir cream mixture into the caramel (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248 on thermometer. Pour into baking pan and cool 30 minutes. Sprinkle another pinch or two of salt over the top of the caramel for a nice salty crunch and let sit until completely cooled. Cut into 1-inch pieces (I buttered a pizza cutter), and then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.

If they work out, this may be what I take in on Black Friday. Then again, I have a tub of pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough that the owner of Mary's Mountain Cookies gave me because she knows I love them. Maybe I will share...

And this:

Pumpkin Spice Sauce

Ingredients

For the pumpkin spice syrup:
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks or 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
3 Tbsp canned pumpkin
For a single latte:
1 shot of espresso or 2-4 Tbsp very strongly brewed coffee
6-8 oz skim milk, heated or steamed until very hot
1-2 Tbsp pumpkin spice syrup (or to taste)
Whipped cream, optional
Salted caramel sauce, optional
Instructions

To make the syrup: Cook sugar and water in a small pot over medium heat until the mixture is completely clear.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow mixture to come to a boil.
Allow mixture to cool for 10-15 minutes.
Strain syrup through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer into a large jar or bottle of your choice.
Keep syrup in the fridge, it will last a while.
To make the latte, combine espresso with heated milk, and 1-2 Tbsp of pumpkin spice syrup (add to taste).
Top with whipped cream and salted caramel sauce, if desired.

Last year I tried several "copy cat" recipes for pumpkin spice lattes. This is the first that has a sauce, rather than just adding pumpkin and vanilla to milk (Blech!).

In knitting news, sadly Dot the Sparkle Monster is no longer with us. I got distracted by something on TV and missed several decreases, dropped a stitch somewhere, etc. Tomorrow I go to the yarn store to see if I can find a 16" size 7 circular needle in an attempt to save my sanity :-/

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

So tired

of staying late, coming in early, skipping breaks, missing lunches and especially of having to babysit my freaking employees! I'm sorry I didn't say thank you to you for doing your job, for getting your work done, for coming in close to when you were scheduled (only 10 minutes late) and for leaving the moment your shift was done. I am sorry for saying thank you to the other person who came in on his days off and came in early every frickin' day to help me while slighting you....

And did anyone fucking thank me for coming in early, staying late, missing lunches and breaks to do my job?? No. Am I upset about it? No, because the best damned thank you I get is that big fat bonus check next month. It's my job to make sure my clients are happy and if that means I miss a meal here and there to kick an order out the door, then that's what I will do, and most of the time I do it without whinging (though missing lunch does make me cranky, so watch out!).

Seriously though, why should I single you out just because you did your job without putting in a bit of extra effort when your co-worker worked his fanny off and did it whenever I asked him to??

And instead, I have to play nice and apologize to my employee in order to keep fucking harmony. What I really want to say is "GROW UP!" but I can't. I have to say BS like "You made yourself so invaluable to the team on a regular basis that we forget to thank you." Blech. And now I am going to have to go to my boss and restore harmony by asking him to make both of my employees Employee of the Month next month, even though only one actually deserves it.

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Crazy

Crazy busy week. We had huge order after huge order which just gets stressful after a while. I have one employee who is awesome and will come in early and on his day off. I have another employee who always bitches about not having enough hours and says she will come in, until you actually ask her, then it's "Oh sorry, I have plans." I have stopped asking her, and just giving J. all the hours he wants. Thank goodness he was scheduled all weekend, because honestly, if it was up to the other person, I don't think stuff would have been done on time. And yay, everything should be done now, so I can actually spend tomorrow relaxing, or knitting Dot the Dress Up Box Monster, one of the two...

Yeah, about that... Dot take 1 was a nightmare. The Magic Loop is not magic for me. All I ended up with was a tangled mess that I ended up throwing away :( Take 2 ended up a mess when I somehow twisted my stitches. I finally gave up and stopped for the moment. I think I shall Kitchner Matt's leg instead. (Matt is ninja #2, since at the moment he has no arms and no legs and just lays there, like a matt, lol).

There has been no progress what so ever on the crazy quilt because I have been distracted with cuddly toys ;)

For me.

It's been a long winter. Mentally, I feel even worse off than I was before, though things are finally looking up. I abandoned the gym. I...